The king of tragedy

A lopsided autobiography of Dilip Kumar that sheds light on his early life and career, but skimps on what we really want to know

July 28, 2014 10:37 pm | Updated 10:40 pm IST

Chennai: 28/07/2014: The Hindu: oeb: Book Review Column:
Title: Dililp kumar. The Substance and the Shadow. An Autobiography.
Author:Dilip Kumar.
Publisher: Hay House Publication release.

Chennai: 28/07/2014: The Hindu: oeb: Book Review Column:
Title: Dililp kumar. The Substance and the Shadow. An Autobiography.
Author:Dilip Kumar.
Publisher: Hay House Publication release.

A few pages into Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow , an autobiography “narrated to Udayatara Nayar,” Dilip Kumar admits that he does not know how he came to be known as a method actor. “The epithet was used for me much before it was used for Brando,” he says. “The truth is that I am an actor who evolved a method, which stood me in good stead. I learned the importance of studying the script and characters deeply and building upon my own gut observations and sensations about my own and other characters. It was always meaningful for me to study even those characters who would be close to me or opposed to me.”

Dilip Kumar approaches his autobiography the same way, from the outside in, and with similar meticulousness. His builds his story brick by brick, the way he built his characters, carefully choosing what he wants to show us, carefully concealing the rest. (Not for nothing is the book titled The Substance and the Shadow .)

He is most forthcoming in the early portions, set in Peshawar, where he was born as Yousuf Khan — the anecdotes are suffused with a Rushdie-like exuberance. About his grandmother, he says, “For some reason, she always wrapped around herself a large shawl, which was almost the size of a single bed sheet. When I chose to hide from [my father] Aghaji or Amma after getting into some mischief, I invariably found refuge in the folds of her shawl, which she would open for me like a magic tent ...” Dilip Kumar is 91 years old, and he speaks of these events as if they occurred yesterday. The chapters where he discusses his craft are filled with similar texture and detail — he doesn’t let us in completely, but at least we get to see an actor who treated his work with seriousness and respect. A chance visit to Bombay Talkies studio resulted in an encounter with Devika Rani. She asked him if he would become an actor. He agreed. She gave him his screen name. And Ashok Kumar, who was already a star, gave him tips. “You just do what you would do in the situation if you were really in it. If you act it will be acting and it will look very silly.”

Short shrift to films Sometimes, he dug deep. “It was the pain I endured as the alienated child in school that surfaced from my subconscious when I was playing the early tragic roles in my career.” He became the “tragedy king” — and at some point, he began to suffer from depression. A British psychiatrist told him that he was carrying his roles home. It was time to change tracks. Dilip Kumar chose to remake the MGR-starring Tamil swashbuckler Malaikallan . The result, Azaad , was a huge hit.

So far, so good. But our relationship with stars is through their films. After dwelling languorously on his early life and career, in language that’s as stately and understated as the performances that made him famous, Dilip Kumar, strangely, gives short shrift to his films.

This is unfortunate because few people know, better than the actor, how a film really got made. And Dilip Kumar slowly became more than just an actor for hire. He began to consider the film in its entirety, “as a product.” He would suggest technicians and co-stars. (He was responsible for roping Premnath into Aan .) He involved himself in the writing process, and in the case of Aadmi , he even helped out with the editing and the cinematography. He could have taken us through his films, given us an idea of how movies were made in that era.

On his family

But all we get are snippets from an impressive body of work: Kohinoor , Devdas , Naya Daur , Mughal-e-azam , Ram Aur Shyam , Gunga Jumna , and later, Shakti , Kranti and Saudagar . We get a pitiful handful of anecdotes about working with the likes of Vyjayanthimala, SS Vasan and Bimal Roy, and if we get a little more about Gunga Jumna than the other films, it’s probably because he calls it “essentially my baby,” despite the director’s chair being occupied by Nitin Bose. To prepare for Gunga’s death scene, he ran around the studio’s premises to the point of collapse. (Many years later, Dustin Hoffman would do something similar for Marathon Man .)

Scattered through these career highlights are reminiscences about his family, about whose members he speaks very frankly. After he became a big star, he bought a bungalow on Pali Hill, which came to house his siblings. He says, “I felt completely out of sync with my brothers and sisters who were becoming increasingly concerned only with their comforts and luxuries, which they did not hesitate to ask me to provide.” We get a few pages about his foray into politics — first, helping Krishna Menon’s campaign in the 1962 election for the North Bombay Lok Sabha seat, and later, becoming a somewhat absent sheriff of Bombay.

While talking about the women in his life, however, Dilip Kumar retreats completely into the shadows. About Kamini Kaushal, he simply says he was drawn to her more intellectually than emotionally. About Madhubala, revelations about whom will be the reason many readers buy this book, we get these limp lines. “I must admit that I was attracted to her both as a fine co-star and as a person who had some of the attributes I hoped to find in a woman ...” And the infamous episode of his second marriage to Asma he tackles with a lawyer’s love for obfuscation. “A connivance was being mischievously perpetrated and a situation being cleverly created by vested interests to draw a commitment from me.” Wife Saira Banu, understandably, gets talked about the most. He speaks fondly of their early life together, which they began at Madras, “the most erudite and culturally wealthy city of India.”

In these discussions about women, the personal side of the star reveals itself. He says he was relieved when he parted from Madhubala because “in marriage it is important for a woman to be ready to give more than receive.” Speaking of his longstanding marriage with Banu, he says, “In later years... this one quality to happily fall in line with what I said was the essence of the success of our marriage.” And Lata Mangeshkar — in the second part of the book, titled Reminiscences , where friends, colleagues and family, well, reminisce about Dilip Kumar — recalls how her rakhi brother frowned when he learnt that she was about to begin her 1974 Royal Albert Hall concert with Inhi logon ne, from Pakeezah . “The lyric alluded to something he did not want to hear from his sister.”

The Reminiscences section is a curiosity. Why, we wonder, the need for a separate set of notes on an actor’s life and career? Rather, why couldn’t Udayatara Nayar have combined both sections and written a biography? We learn, in passing, that Dilip Kumar turned down David Lean’s offer of a part in Lawrence of Arabia . Why didn’t Nayar press her subject for more on this topic? Did she have any hand in shaping this book, or was she just someone who took dictation? The Substance and the Shadow doesn’t come across like the work of a scrupulous journalist, but more like that of an indulgent family friend.

But we must be thankful that the second section exists. A good part of it is just hagiography, friends and family saying how great Dilip Kumar is. But elsewhere, we get the kind of information that Dilip Kumar doesn’t provide. We get anecdotes from V. Babasaheb, the cinematographer of Gunga Jumna . Yash Chopra tells us about his experience during the making of Naya Daur , which his brother B.R. Chopra directed — and we see the extent to which Dilip Kumar worked on the scripts of his films.

We get insights into the actor’s personal life too. It’s Rishi Kapoor who gives a sense of what a laughing stock Dilip Kumar became after the Asma episode. He recalls being on the sets of Duniya , and just as Dilip Kumar was about to deliver his lines, Ashok Kumar shouted out to him, “I believe you have remarried. A man can hardly handle one wife and you will handle two of them.” (It’s funnier in Hindi.) Finally, the shadows recede to reveal some substance.

DILIP KUMAR — The Substance and the Shadow, An Autobiography: Udayatara Nayar; Hay House Publishers India, Muskaan Complex, Plot No. 3, B-2 Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110070. Rs. 600.

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